The Sonnets and Other Poems (46 page)
Read The Sonnets and Other Poems Online
Authors: William Shakespeare
12
tender churl
a paradox: he is both loving/sensitive (
tender
) and mean/boorish (a
churl
)
mak’st waste
wastes/lays waste, destroys
niggarding
being mean, stingy; another paradox—he wastes by being sparing
14
the world’s due
what he owes the world (children)
by … thee
i.e. his potential children are eaten twice: by his self-absorption and by the grave that will bury him
1
forty
often used to mean “many”
2
field
meadow/battlefield: the fresh meadow of the young man’s beauty will become a battlefield full of trenches (wrinkles)
3
proud livery
splendid uniform (of a nobleman’s servant or a soldier)
4
weed
garment/wild plant
6
treasure
may play on the sense of “semen”
lusty
vigorous/sexually desirous
8
all-eating shame
gluttonous shame that totally consumes one
thriftless
unprofitable
9
deserved … use
would the active employment of your beauty deserve (
use
incorporates the senses of “money lending at interest” and “sexual employment”)
10
answer
quibbles on the sense of “pay back, meet a financial obligation”
11
sum my count
add up my accounts, make up the balance sheet (of my life)
make … excuse
justify me when I am old/be plentiful reparation
12
succession
inheritance
thine
i.e. derived from you
13
were
would be
14
blood
actual blood/bloodline, family (may include suggestion of “sexual desire/semen”)
1
glass
mirror
3
fresh repair
youthful condition
4
beguile
cheat
unbless some mother
deprive some woman of the blessing of being a mother
5
uneared
unplowed
6
tillage
(sexual) plowing
husbandry
agricultural cultivation (plays on the sense of “role as a husband”)
7
fond
foolish/infatuated
will be
that he will willingly
8
stop
prevent, halt/stop up, enclose
posterity
future generations
10
Calls back
literally summons back/remembers
11
windows
i.e. eyes
13
remembered … be
to be forgotten
14
Die
may play on the sense of “orgasm” (giving
self-love
masturbatory connotations)
1
Unthrifty
unprofitable, wasteful
spend
plays on the sexual sense of “ejaculate”
2
beauty’s legacy
the beauty you have inherited (and should bequeath to your children)
4
frank
generous
those
i.e. those who
free
generous/noble/sexually available
5
niggard
miser
7
usurer
moneylender (notorious for charging high interest rates)
use
use up, spend/make use of for profit
8
live
make a living/live on through descendants
9
traffic
trade, business/sexual dealings (i.e. masturbation)
10
Thou … deceive
you trick yourself out of enjoying the best part of yourself
12
audit
final account, balance sheet
13
unused
unemployed/not used for profit/sexually inactive
tombed
entombed, buried
14
th’executor
one who ensures that the provisions of a will are carried out (i.e. the child who will maintain the father’s beauty)
1
frame
create
2
gaze
that which is gazed at
dwell
linger
4
unfair
make ugly
fairly
beautifully/justly, legitimately
5
leads
guides/lures deceptively
6
confounds
destroys
7
checked
halted
lusty
strong, healthy
8
o’ersnowed
covered in snow
9
distillation
essence, perfume
10
A … glass
kept (like rose water) in a bottle
11
with
along with
were bereft
would be lost
12
Nor … was
(leaving) neither itself nor any memory of what it had been
14
show
appearance
still
always/yet (aurally echoes distilling)
1
Then … distilled
the argument continues directly from Sonnet 5
ragged
rough
3
vial
flask, container (i.e. womb)
treasure
make rich/ejaculate into
place
vaginal connotations
4
self-killed
suggestive of solitary orgasm (“death”)
5
use
employment/ sexual activity/money lending at interest
6
happies
makes happy
pay … loan
take on the loan willingly
8
ten … one
ten children rather than one
10
refigured
replicated (quibbles on the sense of “made a new number of”)
12
posterity
your descendants
13
self-willed
obstinate/one who bequeaths his assets only to himself/one who directs his sexual desire toward himself
fair
beautiful/just
1
orient
east
gracious light
i.e. the sun
2
under
earthly, mortal/lesser, lowly
5
steep-up
precipitous
heavenly hill
i.e. the sky
9
pitch
the highest point (literally, in a falcon’s flight before it swoops to attack)
car
chariot (like that of Phoebus, the classical sun god)
10
reeleth
staggers
11
fore
before, previously
converted
turned away
12
tract
course
13
thyself outgoing
outstripping, exhausting yourself
noon
prime, peak/state of (masturbatory) sexual arousal
14
diest
plays on the sense of “orgasm”
get
beget, conceive
son
puns on “sun”
1
Music to hear
when there is music to hear/you, whom it is music to hear
sadly
gravely/sorrowfully
4
annoy
vexation, pain
6
unions
harmonizing chords (plays on the sense of “marriages”)
7
chide
scold, rebuke
confounds
destroys
8
singleness
refusing to participate in musical harmony/being a bachelor
parts … bear
personal qualities you should reproduce/musical part you should sing
9
Mark
notice
10
Strikes … each
resonates mutually (
strikes
plays on the sense of “has sex”)
11
sire
father
13
speechless
i.e. instrumental, without voices
14
‘Thou … none’
by remaining unmarried, you will amount to nothing
3
issueless
childless
hap
chance
4
makeless
mateless, i.e. widowed
5
still
continually
6
form
likeness
7
private
individual
8
By
by means of, by looking into her
9
Look what
whatever
unthrift
spendthrift, wasteful person
10
his
its
the … it
i.e. it remains in circulation
11
beauty’s waste
the waste or consumption of beauty
12
unused
plays on the sense of “virginal/not employed sexually”
user
waster (with suggestion of “masturbator”)
13
bosom
heart
14
murd’rous shame
shameful behavior that destroys the doer (with suggestion of masturbation)
1
For shame
shame on you/out of a sense of shame (some editors add an exclamation mark after this phrase)
bear’st
feel
2
unprovident
careless
3
Grant
admit, accept
6
stick’st
hesitate
7
roof
i.e. body that houses the young man’s soul/family, the house to which he belongs
9
thought
intention
mind
opinion (of you)
10
be fairer lodged
have better lodgings
11
presence
appearance, manner
kind
benevolent/natural/possessed of family affection
13
another self
i.e. a child
14
still
always
thine or thee
your descendants or yourself
1
wane
decline, become older and weaker (with suggestion of “become detumescent after sex”)
2
one of thine
a child of yours (or just possibly “your wife” who has become pregnant)
from … departest
(which child is formed) out of that which you leave behind, i.e. youth/ semen
3
fresh blood
lifeblood/semen
youngly
in your youth
4
from youth convertest
i.e. are old
convertest
turn away/change
5
Herein
i.e. in having children
increase
prosperity, advancement/reproduction/children
7
minded so
of your intention (not to have children)
8
threescore year
sixty years
make … away
bring the world to an end
9
for store
to have children/to preserve
10
featureless
lacking attractive features